French cars

101 Cars, Part 99… Ettore is Calling

There are few cars that are true Supercars. And in that rarefied company, there is one that is a step above. With a top speed of 253mph, the Bugatti Veyron is truly at the top of the heap…

The price comes in around $1.5M. That is a LOT of coin for something that could be smacked into a guardrail. But the technology is immense.

To begin with, the 1000 hp W18 (yes, THREE banks of six cylinders each) with 4 turbos. Then, later the engine was changed to a V16, still with 1000 hp.

Of course, as noted by Top Gear‘s James May, at full throttle there is only enough fuel to run about 12 minutes, a little over 2mpg. But the tires ($10,000 for a set of the special Michelins) are reputed to only last 15 minutes at that speed… 2,500 miles of “normal” driving.